SPRING... adapting to the changes (Part 80d)

When Easter came and went we hadn’t heard from Alvin and Millie. Millie had promised to write and keep us posted as to how they were doing. I knew that Alvin had listed the mobile home for sale but neither Elle nor I had seen much, if any, activity, So, it came as quite a shock when we answered a knock on our door to find Andy and Lil. Before we could say anything, Andy, in his usual boisterous self said “Hi neighbor!”. And he wasn’t kidding. We invited them in and they told us they had bought Alvin’s unit. I knew that Andy had bought a piece of property but had thought it was to build a house on. But that was still a ways down the road. With two soon to be teen aged sons they had run out of room. They had bought their mobile home from Alvin and Millie’s and it was only a 40’ by 8’ wide. As I sat there listening to them I wondered what life living next door to them would be like. Don’t get me wrong... I liked Andy and considered him a good friend. But, Alvin, Millie and their girls were extremely quiet and Andy, Lil and their sons were directly the opposite. Of course we expressed pleasure about the news to them but, to ourselves, we had some serious doubts.

Work on the new travel trailer part of the park was a disaster. The “boys” hadn’t done nearly enough planning. The need to put in a new exit to the park had thrown a serious crimp into both time and money. Ben, in an effort to cut costs, borrowed a small tractor with a bucket on it to do the excavating. It turned out that it wasn’t big enough, and, in frustration, Ben ended up trying something that he shouldn’t have tried and, in so doing, ended up collapsing a cesspool. I can still see the tractor, half swallowed up by the hole, with it’s bucket pointed to the sky. All the delay meant to me was that I wasn’t doing what had been projected for me. I was still getting paid and that was the important part.

Jay was able to get Rena in to meet with Mrs. K, the Deputy Civil Service Director and to work out the details of joining us in the Data Processing department. I, purposely, stayed in the background and actually left the office when she was introduced. Lucy took over her training. I’d guess it was probably a couple of hours before I acknowleged her at all. What was surprising to me was that she didn’t express any hesitation when she acknowleged me back. I had figured that she’d not want to see me at all. I took the situation for what it was and just smiled.

My patience in waiting for some “action” from the “mystery woman’s” wash line finally paid off somewhere in this period of time. I came home one night and there, blowing in the wind on a partially filled wash line were a bunch of bikini panties. It was light enough to see that some were colored. My problem was that our kitchen was right in the front of our unit and Elle was there preparing supper so there was no way I could dally looking at them from my car or to go over and investigate. What it did do was to reinvigorate my interest in her.

The stock car racing season was scheduled to open the first Sunday in May. Eric had continued to “putter” on the car while I worked on the travel trailer project. He was “hot to trot” and couldn’t wait for the season to begin. As usual for me, money was scarce. The motor was in and all that was needed was a battery so that we could run it. Tires were another missing ingredient but we both wanted to hear the roar of the motor. Eric had gotten so impatient that he “sprung” for the battery and came to tell me. It was probably close to 7pm when we walked up to the car and installed it. Stock cars do not have mufflers. They are loud. It was... complete with a few backfires mixed in. It was almost completely dark and we didn’t have the equipment necessary to fine tune the ignition so we quit, happy to know that it was capable of running.

Next day at work I told Jay about the “christening” and he insisted that we go out to the car during lunch. We pushed the car out from under the lean to and I cranked it over. It was the same as the night before with a number of backfires. Jay knew exactly what was wrong and got a wrench. He loosened up the nut that held the distributor in place and turned it a little and the backfiring stopped. We were both very involved in projects at work and as much as we both wanted to stay we headed back. On the way jay said that I needed to get a “hot firing” distributor. I didn’t really know what he meant so asked about it. He said he thought he could get his hands on one for me and by then we were back at work.

I know it was Friday when Jay walked in with something wrapped in rags. He handed to to me and as I peeled the rags off I saw a “hot firing” distributor, complete with a “hot” coil. The name tag on it told the story s it read “Mallory”, a name I’d seen on some of the faster cars like Jim’s cousin the year before. I asked Jay how much I owed him even though I didn’t have any money. He just smiled, shrugged and wished me “good luck!”.

None of us had desks as we were always at different machines and seldom, if ever, sitting. With the new office we finally had a storage area. It was decided that one shelf would be designated for the employees to keep their personal things. I took the distributor and put it in my space and went back to work. Being a Friday we’d all taken Rena’s lead and would hold back until at least 5:15pm or later to avoid the “rush” of getting out of the parking lot. When I left Jay and Jo were still there. I was at the traffic circle when I remembered the distributor. I remember cussing as I went the full 360 degrees around it and headed back to the office. I noticed that Jay’s truck was still there but didn’t think much of it. As usual, I used the fire door to get in. The “back” door to the office had no windows but I had a key for it and walked right in. The lights were out which somewhat surprised me what with Jay’s truck in the parking lot. It was only about ten steps to the store room door. I opened it and went straight for my shelf space, grabbing the distributor and turning to go back out. But, something white in the middle of the aisle caught my eye. I stopped and as I did I heard a familiar squeal. It was Jo and as I looked I could see that she was straddling someone as I could see two legs underneath her. I was frozen in place for a few seconds. I saw her turn her head and look right at me. I also saw white between her bottom and the legs under her. I was probably only in there for fifteen seconds. When I was back in the office itself I found myself perspiring profusely. I’d just walked in on a very compromising situation and yet I found myself embarrassed. I was out of the office and down the stairs in a flash. I was at the traffic circle before I was able to breath normally. At the entrance to the park I stopped the car to try and figure out what had been going on. I didn’t want to be sitting at supper trying to figure it out while carrying on a conversation with Elle.

To be continued...